National Association of Realtors agrees to cut commissions to settle lawsuits

The National Association of Realtors announced Friday that it would be cut commissions to settle $418 million in lawsuits brought by home sellers. 

The settlement eliminates the standard 5-to-6% sales commission as part of a $418 million settlement with home sellers.

The lawsuits alleged the association is violating antitrust laws by requiring agents of those who sell homes to offer payment to the buyer's agent, according to The New York Times.

While NAR denied any fault, the group announced it would pay about 1.5 million of its members $418 million over about four years.

This agreement “would resolve claims against NAR, over one million NAR members, all state/territorial and local REALTOR® associations, all association-owned MLSs, and all brokerages with an NAR member as principal that had a residential transaction volume in 2022 of $2 billion or below,” the group put out in a statement, according to Barron's.